Madrid Spain Sights

Arrived in Madrid at 7 a.m. I was tired from being on the top bunk where it got very warm and was difficult to sleep. Put our bags in storage. Took subway into town. Walked to the Prado Museum that opened at 9 a.m. We walked through town to the Plaza Mayor. Also reserved hotel for our return. Because of the train routes we would have to come back through Madrid after Portugal. We next walked to the Palzio Real. Went shopping. Slept in park. Walked to a movie that we left after it was playing for 30 minutes—dumb movie! Stopped at the Reina Sofia to see one painting. Lots of modern art that I made fun of. Rushed back to train station where we jumped onto our night train to Lisbon. This time we only paid for seats instead of a sleeper. Rachelle worked on a cross stitch she bought on for our nephew. When we returned after Portugal, we headed straight to the hotel to leave our stuff. Had no problem getting tickets at the bull arena. Went back to the hotel to sleep. Around 3ish we got up, got food, walked through the Sunday park stroll area to get to the bull fight. The fight was very interesting. Not what Rachelle expected. She didn’t know they killed the bull! But it wasn’t just one. They killed 7 before it was over. One bull had a wound that was shooting blood everywhere.

Bull Fight

Prado Museum

Plaza Mayor

Reina Sofia

Madrid Public Transit Map

Introducing Michael Breins Travel Guides to Sightseeing by Public Transportation. This underground travel guide series is devoted to showing the thrifty traveler how to get to the top 50 visitor attractions by taking advantage of the local buses, trains, and underground routes in a variety of the worlds most visited cities. These guides are compact, concise, comprehensive, in a small-footprint, map-fold, pocket-size format. They are a great accompaniment to any tourist map or travel guide. Travel through Madrid easily and inexpensively by using Madrids excellent Metro system with this informative guide. This guide also contains detailed maps which show you exactly how to walk to points of interest from the nearest Metro stations. An ultra-large official map of the Madrid Metro is included with visitor attractions clearly marked including The Museum of America, Plaza de Espana, Descalzas Reales Monastery, Royal Palace, El Rastro (flea market), Plaza Mayor, Museum of Archeology, Retiro Park, Prado Museum, Paseo del Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Reina Sofia Art Center, El Escorial and many more.

The Plaza Mayor is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza. It has a total of nine entranceways. The origins of the Plaza go back to 1576 although it's been remodeled several times.

Spain's national museum of 20th century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992 and is named for Queen Sofia of Spain. The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art. Highlights of the museum include excellent collections of Spain's two greatest 20th century masters, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. The most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso's painting Guernica.

The Museo del Prado is a museum and art gallery featuring one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century. The collection comprises around 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints,8,200 drawings, 2,000 prints, 1,000 coins and medals, and almost 2,000 decorative objects and works of art.
The best known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez.